The Disability Book Archive

[ID: A book cover. The title “Odder Still” is written in the centre in large white caps. Immediately above it, in smaller, faint white caps, text reading “These Treacherous Tides”. The author’s name “D. N. Bryn” is written at the bottom of the cover in thinner, fainter white caps. The background is red and shows art of a man stretching from the lower left corner to the upper right. He is shirtless, with long dreadlocks, three piercings in his ear and wearing jeans. Some kind of green and black goo sits on his right shoulder, sending a lattice of thing green and black tendrils up the right side of the face and down the right arm and side of the body. /end]

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Content Warnings:

Taken from author’s website:

• Alcohol Consumption
• References to Violent Pet Death
• Multiple Instances of Animal Death
• Fantasy Violence
• Minor Fantasy Gore
• References to Parasite in the Body
• Severe Blood Loss Due to Scientific Experimentation
• Dissection of Parasite from Body
• Body Horror
• Fade to Black Sex Scene

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Summary:

Rubem of No-Man’s Land was content keeping to his wine, his pets, and his extensive collection of fishnets. But since a sentient, fuel-producing parasite bonded to his brainstem, every morally-depraved scientist and hardcore rebel for a hundred miles wants to ruthlessly dissect him. The parasite itself is no better, influencing his emotions and sassing him with his own memories as it slowly takes over his body.

The only person offering Rubem help is Tavish K. Findlay, a dashing and manipulative philanthropist whose mother’s fuel company monopolizes their corrupt underwater city with an iron claw. She desperately wants to tear Rubem apart for the parasite before those who oppose her can do the same. Her son is irresistibly charismatic though, and after a lifetime of being kicked out and disavowed, Rubem is desperate to believe in the friendship Tavish offers.

With revolutionary plots and political schemes tangling his every choice, Rubem must soon decide whether or not to trust Tavish in his fight against the parasite’s growing control.

Odder Still is a M/M fantasy novel with a biracial and class-crossing slow burn romance, murderous intrigue, and a Marvel’s Venom-style parasite-human relationship in an underwater steampunk city. It is the first of four books in the No-Man’s Lander series, each with a romantically fulfilling ending.

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Notes:

This is the first book in the No Man’s Lander series, but it ties in to the wider These Treacherous Tides universe. A note on the author’s website says that, whilst the rest of the These Treacherous Tides books can be enjoyed as standalones, this series is best enjoyed chronologically.

There is a kindle edition.

Here is a link to the author’s website.

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Archivist Comments:

The majority of reviews on this book are praising the intricacy of the writing in this novel and the author’s descriptiveness. The slow-burn romance between the MCs and the relationship between the MC and his parasite also seems to have generated a lot of intrigue.

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